The present invention relates to telephone service provided over hybrid fiber/cable broadband connections using Internet Protocol (IP) and more particularly to a simplified method and apparatus for testing the reliability of a residential gateway in one embodiment and for eliminating the need for traditional relay means in another embodiment.
Residential gateways must be low in cost and yet have high reliability. A key feature in providing reliability utilizes looped-back testing for purposes of remote testing and diagnostics. The traditional looped-back test design requires one relay per local line which adds costs and increases the likelihood of failures.
Looped-back testing is a standard method for testing full duplex paths within a telephony communication system. In order to perform looped-back testing, the normal path is modified at or near the system boundary to loop outbound messages back into the system on the inbound half of the full duplex path. The looped-back path is normally switched by either hardware or software.
The looped-back path is normally used only during a test mode. A looped-back test is performed by first enabling the looped-back path where upon a signal is placed on the outbound path. If that signal is detected on the inbound path the test verifies the integrity of the path.
FIG. 1 shows a system employing a conventional testing approach.
Making reference to FIG. 1, a portion 10 of a telephone network comprises a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 12, which generates a test tone in the form of PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) data at 12a and applies it to circuitry 14 incorporating a CODEC (encoder/decoder) and a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Devicexe2x80x94is a logic chip that can be programmed to perform any specific logic function and is similar to a PGS, FPGA or a PLD). The test tone at 12a is converted into an analog signal, appearing at 14a and applied to an SLIC (subscriber line interface circuit) 16 which may alternatively be a hybrid circuit including any SLIC part. The test tone is looped-back to the SLIC 16 through a normally open looped-back relay 18 which is closed preparatory to receipt of the test tone appearing at 16a through suitable hardware or software (not shown for purposes of simplicity).
The looped-back test tone, appearing at 18a, is applied through subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC) 16 to circuit 14 which converts the analog signal into digital form, this digital output being applied to the DSP 12 through 14c. DSP 12 receives both the test tone from the looped-back path as well as the echo of the looped-back message, represented by dotted line 14c. 
It is advantageous to determine the integrity of a subscriber line without the need for a looped-back relay which requires hardware and software to operate the looped-back relay and which further complicates the test in the event of faulty operation of the looped-back relay.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide novel method and apparatus for determining the integrity of a full duplex path subscriber line while eliminating the need for a looped-back relay and all of the attendant hardware/software required for its appropriate operation.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide for loop-backed testing of a full-duplex transmission path employing conventional apparatus for generating DTMF tones for test purposes, which apparatus avoids the need for additional software or other modifications.
Still another object of the present invention is to locally test the integrity of a subscriber""s full-duplex transmission path and thereby avoid the need for intervention by a central office, for example.
The present invention, in one preferred embodiment thereof, utilizes appropriate hardware and software for generating a test tone applied as an outbound message in the full duplex path having a Hybrid Reflection Based Loopback. An echo cancellation circuit, which normally removes a reflection that is typically present in this type of circuit is the means by which the echo is removed. However, upon initiation of a test mode, the echo cancellation capability is disabled and the echo is used as the test signal, providing a simplified and yet effective detection of the return path test tone at the Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 12, thereby increasing reliability while decreasing cost through the elimination of the looped-back relay and its control means, as well as simplifying the detection of the return path test tone at the DSP 12.
An still another embodiment of the present invention, a BTI generates one or more DTMF tones that are processed through the normal circuitry of the BTI for providing audio signals to the attached phone(s) but, rather than applying the signal to a phone, the signal is looped back and processed by the circuitry that receives the audio signals from the phone. Software that is conventionally resident in DSP to detect the DTMF tones is used to analyze the quality of the received signals.
Although the DSP is an ideal place for checking quality of looped back audio, it is preferable to use existing DSP software to perform the desired test and thereby avoid the need for additional hardware/software to perform the test, thus avoiding the need to modify such existing equipment/software.
SGCP is a centralized signal protocol requiring that the Call Agent (i.e., the central call signaling authority) know the call state of each endpoint device in the system. In existing telephone networks, loopback analysis is performed by a piece of equipment that is shared across a wide population of equipment and there are no known solutions that provide local signal analysis. The alternative embodiment makes advantageous use of DTMF generation/detection software in the generation/analysis of a looped back test signal.
A central processing unit (CPU) places the hardware into the looped-back mode and sends a command the DSP to generate DTMF tones which are generated as digital signals. The digital signals are converted into analog form by the CODEC and transferred to the SLIC (Subscriber Line Interface Circuit). The signal is looped back through the SLIC, converted to digital form by the CODEC and processed by the DSP, which processes the test tones in the normal manner, reporting the results to the CPU, which then determines the integrity of the signal path. This technique utilizes the DTMF tones and loops back the signal through the SLIC, eliminating the need for reconfiguration or modification of the DSP and/or its attendant hardware/software.